Digital Battlespace

Northrop Grumman delivers submarine sensors

The US Navy’s Virginia class submarines are set for enhanced capabilities with Northrop Grumman delivering the first Block IV Light Weight Wide Aperture Array (LWWAA) shipset for installation. The company announced the delivery on 28 November.

Northrop Grumman has delivered LWWAA panels for all Virginia class boats, and this delivery marks the start of a series of ten Block IV shipsets that will be delivered at a rate of two per year to Huntington Ingalls Industries.

The LWWAA is a fibre-optic passive hull mounted sensor array that is designed to enable the Virginia class to counter evolving sensor technologies used by enemy forces well into the future. There are six arrays in each shipset, and Northrop Grumman provides the acoustic array assemblies as well as all the hardware required to install the arrays on the exterior of the ships.